AVR Workshop

AVR Workshop

AVR Workshop is a comprehensive introduction to working with the versatile Microchip AVR 8-bit microcontrollers that form the core of Arduino and compatible boards. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or electronics enthusiast, the book’s 60 projects will teach you how to build your own AVR devices, one step at a time.

You’ll learn the C programming skills needed to work directly with the inexpensive ATmega328P-PU and ATtiny85 microcontrollers. You’ll review the core properties of current, voltage, and power; learn to safely work with USBasp programmers and breadboards; and follow schematics to construct circuits. You’ll control digital output with bitwise arithmetic, take user input with pushbuttons and analog-to-digital converters, and test the voltage of a single-cell battery.

As you make your way through the book, you’ll build fun and useful devices like these:

• An LED display with changing colors and brightness
• A four-function calculator that connects an AVR to your computer
• A temperature-controlled fan and a two-wheel-drive robot vehicle
• A real-time digital clock that charts the date and time on an LCD

You’ll also learn more advanced skills like how to:

• Control motors with pulse-width modulation and MOSFETs
• Work with parts like LCDs, servos, and interface chips, and write your own AVR libraries
• Implement the SPI and I2C buses with AVR
• Use hardware interrupts, timers, and EEPROM

By the end of the book, you’ll have learned to harness a wide range of sensors, motors, displays, and more with the AVR microcontroller so you can bring your own inventions to life.

Requirements: ATmega328P-PU and ATtiny85 microcontrollers and USBasp programmers. Projects may require other inexpensive parts.

Author Bio

John Boxall has been an electronics enthusiast for over 30 years, spending much of that time in the retail, wholesale, and consulting fields. He also spent several years writing Arduino tutorials, designing projects, and reviewing kits and accessories at www.tronixstuff.com. Arduino Workshop (No Starch Press) was his first book.